Paris Climate Accord – President Says, “No”

Paris Climate Accord Not for US

Paris Climate Accord will not be supported by the US. President Donald Trump announced today. A number of Trump’s team members have urged him to take this direction. His EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, has been advising him to scrap the deal. Another strong opponent is Steve Bannon. Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump has been lobbying for the US to remain with the accord. She has expressed her fear of international backlash if the president rejects the deal. There are only two other nations, Syria and Nicaragua, who oppose the deal. During his announcement, in the White House Rose Garden, President Trump said, “In order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord.” He went on to say that, instead, the US will “begin negotiations to reenter either the Paris accord or a really entirely new transaction on terms” he said “are fair to US businesses, workers and taxpayers.”

Will the Decision be Final?

President Trump, although he has decided to withdraw, which could take three years, says his team has not worked out “whether to initiate a full, formal withdrawal, or exit the underlying United Nations climate change treaty. The latter would be faster but more extreme. The AP says the wording may have “caveats” that leave open the possibility the decision won’t be a final one. However, during his address the president said, “So we’re getting out, but we will start to negotiate and we will see if we can make a deal that’s fair. And if we can, that’s great, and if we can’t, that’s fine.”

The Paris agreement was signed by 195 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and ratified by 147. It went into effect last November. The goal is to tackle the global challenge of a warming Earth. Since the agreement is not a treaty this makes it possible for President Trump to unilaterally exit the agreement, and for other countries to follow the US’s lead should they so choose.